Trajectories of Depressive Symptomatology and Loneliness in Older Adult Sexual Minorities and Heterosexual Groups

Beam, Christopher R.; Collins, Emma M

doi:10.1080/07317115.2018.1518283

Cited by 17 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 72 publications

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“…Second, changes in loneliness over time may confound the mediating role of health factors. However, previous research shows that loneliness scores are relatively constant across late adulthood in NSHAP [46,80], which supports selection of the temporal order among loneliness, health factors, and cognition in the current study. Third, the cognitive screening measure employed may be a more valid measure of distinguishing normal cognitive functioning from impaired functioning versus evaluating general cognitive ability [65].…”

Section: Limitationssupporting

confidence: 87%

Health Factors as Potential Mediators of the Longitudinal Effect of Loneliness on General Cognitive Ability

Kim

Beam

Greenberg

et al. 2020

The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

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OBJECTIVE: Higher levels of loneliness in older adulthood predict cognitive decline, but research on mediating mechanisms is sparse. We examine multisystemic physiological risk, functional ability, self-rated health, depressive symptoms, and social participation as mediating processes for the association between loneliness and general cognitive ability over a 10-year follow-up in an older adult sample. METHODS: Three waves of data from 3,005 individuals (mean intake age: 69.30 (SD: 7.85) years; female = 51.61%) recruited during Wave 1 of the National Social Life, Health, and Aging Project were used to test whether hypothesized mediators collected at the 5-year follow-up explained effects of baseline loneliness on 10-year general cognitive ability. RESULTS: The relationship between baseline loneliness and 10-year general cognitive ability was not mediated by multisystemic physiological risk. Functional ability (β =-0.24, SE = 0.05, p < .001), self-rated health (β=-0.08, SE = 0.02, p < .001), depressive symptoms (β=-0.20, SE = 0.05, p < .001), and social participation (β =-0.03, SE = 0.01, p = .016) significantly mediated effects. Indirect effects remained significant after adjusting for demographic covariates and 5year general cognitive ability, except social participation. DISCUSSION: Loneliness may influence cognitive ability indirectly, signaling waning physical and psychiatric health more proximally correlated with cognitive ability. These mechanisms may serve as targets of intervention for cognitive maintenance in lonely older adults. (217/250)

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Section: Limitationssupporting

confidence: 87%

Health Factors as Potential Mediators of the Longitudinal Effect of Loneliness on General Cognitive Ability

Kim

Beam

Greenberg

et al. 2020

The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry

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“…Individuals who identified as girls, women, or female represented 72.2% of the total population under review (n = 4657, 67.2% (sexual minority), 72.3% (heterosexual)). Studies were conducted in USA (n = 3) (Beam & Collins, 2019;Keenan et al, 2018;Westefeld et al, 2001), and the UK (n = 1) (Rivers & Noret, 2008). Measures of loneliness included the UCLA Loneliness Scale Version 3 (Russel, 1996) and Loneliness and Social Dissatisfaction Scale (Asher & Wheeler, 1985).…”

Section: Literature Searchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Loneliness in sexual minority and heterosexual individuals: A comparative meta-analysis

Gorczynski

Fasoli

2021

Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health

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Introduction: Despite the importance of better understanding how loneliness is associated with physical and mental health symptoms and disorders, and who is at greatest risk, demographic information pertaining to sexuality is often not collected. Although some studies evidence prevalence rates of loneliness amongst sexual minority individuals to be higher when compared to heterosexual individuals, no systematic approaches to examine and compare the literature have been taken. This comparative meta-analysis examined loneliness between sexual minority and heterosexual individuals. Method: To identify studies, published studies were searched from the following databases MeDLiNe, CiNAHL, PsychiNFO, Scopus, and Cochrane. Studies that were published in english, compared sexual minorities and heterosexuals; measured loneliness; and presented quantitative data were included. Result: Four articles were included in the review, reporting data from 481 individuals who identified as sexual minorities and 4176 as heterosexuals. The 4 studies showed that individuals who identified as sexual minorities reported higher ratings of loneliness than heterosexuals (d = 0.352, p = 0.019). Conclusion: interventions are needed at the individual and societal level to decrease the loneliness experienced by sexual minorities. This is the first paper to provide aggregated data on loneliness that covers the life span amongst sexual minorities.Loneliness is a significant health problem (Beutel et al., 2017). Rooted in the discrepancy model of loneliness (Peplau & Perlman, 1982), loneliness is defined as an emotional state of dissatisfaction individuals feel due to the perception that their social needs are not met by desired quantities or qualities of social interactions (see Peplau & Perlman, 1982;Russell et al., 1980). Loneliness can be situational, an experience that happens at a given moment in one's life, or chronic, where one feels lonely for a prolonged duration of time (de Jong Gierveld, 1998;Young, 1982).

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“…Bisexual men and women are also significantly more likely to be socioeconomically disadvantaged than their lesbian, gay, or heterosexual peers ( Badgett, 2018 ). Altogether, this evidence points toward an enhanced vulnerability to loneliness among bisexual people, and the need to consider their outcomes separately to those of gay and lesbian people—something that recent studies on loneliness among LGB older people were unable to do ( Beam & Collins, 2019 ; Hsieh & Liu, 2021 ).…”

Section: Bisexual Vulnerabilitymentioning

confidence: 97%

Trajectories of Loneliness Among Older Women and Men: Variation by Sexual Identity?

Lam

Campbell

2022

The Gerontologist

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Background and Objectives The aim of this study is to contribute to the literature on variation in later-life outcomes by sexual identity. Drawing on the Iridescent Life Course framework, we examined differences in loneliness trajectories, and tested the roles of social connectedness and support, and socioeconomic and health statuses in explaining any observed disparities. Research Design and Methods Using growth models, we analysed 19 years of data (2001-2019) from adults aged 50 years and older from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey (n=5,500 individuals), where a question on sexual identity was asked twice in the study. Results One percent of our sample reported a change in their sexual identity, which we grouped with individuals who reported as bisexual. Our sample comprised of 45.3% heterosexual men, 52.2% heterosexual women, 0.6% gay men, 0.6% lesbian women, 0.6% bisexual-plus men, and 0.6% bisexual-plus women. We found bisexual-plus men were vulnerable to loneliness as they aged. This group had the highest levels of loneliness at age 50, and differences compared with heterosexual men persisted over time. Loneliness of bisexual-plus men increased steeply from age 70. Socioeconomic and health statuses did not explain the increased loneliness of older bisexual-plus men. Lower social support and connectedness partly accounted for these disparities. Discussion and Implications Findings are discussed with regards to existing research and theories on social disadvantage and resilience over the life course. We expand knowledge on factors explaining loneliness and how it varies in women and men by sexual identity.

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Trajectories of Depressive Symptomatology and Loneliness in Older Adult Sexual Minorities and Heterosexual Groups

Cited by 17 publications

References 72 publications

Health Factors as Potential Mediators of the Longitudinal Effect of Loneliness on General Cognitive Ability

Health Factors as Potential Mediators of the Longitudinal Effect of Loneliness on General Cognitive Ability

Loneliness in sexual minority and heterosexual individuals: A comparative meta-analysis

Trajectories of Loneliness Among Older Women and Men: Variation by Sexual Identity?

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